PNN, +972 - Palestinians mark the 64th anniversary of the UN Partition Resolution with a renewed demand for realization of their long-delayed statehood, while Israeli government agencies seek to commemorate the same as a Zionist victory and to re-enact festive celebrations on the Israeli streets

Alaa Ashkar - IMEMC & UNRWA - "Real Madrid Foundation and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) have signed a Partnership Agreement to promote sports programmes in UNRWA schools that will contribute to improving the lives of Palestine refugee children in the Middle East"

AFP - Ynet - "Hair, makeup and boys don`t concern us," says Tattur. "As a teenager, Israel concerns us. There are a lot of problems here. Some people tell you you`re Israeli, some people tell you you`re Palestinian. So you get confused. "We want to build a new generation through our music and words."

Ewa Jasiewicz -
Electronic Intifada
"Earlier this month, the Polish Nationwide Organization of Jewish Youth, known as ZOOM, withdrew from an alliance of anti-fascist groups and cited the participation of the Polish Campaign of Solidarity with Palestine in the 11 November Coalition as the reason.The Polish 11 November Coalition was formed last year to oppose a march through Warsaw by the extreme right. Groups such as the Camp of Great Poland and the All-Poland Youth have expressed anti-Semitic and homophobic sentiments, and have been linked to neo-Nazi groups." ca

Ari Shavit -
Haaretz
"So the time has come for Netanyahu to listen to Uzi Beller, as well as to his party colleagues Reuven Rivlin, Benny Begin and Dan Meridor. The time has come for him to return to the values of Herzl, Jabotinsky and Begin. Go back to Rehavia, Bibi. Rehavia may be a place for bleeding hearts, but Rehavia is enlightenment and strength. In your better days, Rehavia is also you." ca

Yair Ettinger -
Haaretz
"Once upon a time, right-wing activists used to hand out bumper stickers lambasting the "hostile media." But on Tuesday, at a memorial marking the 21st anniversary of Rabbi Meir Kahane`s murder, not a bad word was said about the press. On the contrary, the "hostile media" provided the evening`s chief entertainment - a fact that merely contributed to the euphoria gripping the massive crowd." ca

Avi Issacharoff -
Haaretz
"barring a last-minute surprise, the weekend will see a historic agreement between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Khaled Meshal, head of Hamas` political bureau. The two are expected to set parliamentary and presidential elections for May, six years after the last parliamentary elections, and seven years since Abbas was elected." ca

Jonathan Lis - Haaretz - Speaking to Knesset`s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Benny Gantz says there is still a chance for West Bank violence over Palestinian disappointment of the statehood bid at UN

Ma`an - The upcoming meeting will discuss the status of the PLO, the future of the Palestinian Authority, the stalled peace process, upcoming elections and the nature of Palestinian resistance, [senior Fatah official Azzam] al-Ahmad added.

Richard Silverstein - Tikun Olam blog - "Investigative journalists are the cornerstone of transparency, which is essential if a society is to function in a democratic manner" [Reporters Without Borders` letter to the Israeli Attorney General, urging him to withdraw the charges against Blau].

MICHAEL OMER-MAN -
J-Post -
"Among Jewish respondents, 38% said they saw the authorities’ response to the attacks as appropriate, while 38% said the state reaction was “too mild” and 13% said it was “too harsh.”" - id

Jonathan Lis and Nir Hasson - Haaretz - "We will continue to do what we do even without money," vowed Sarit Michaeli, spokesperson for the B`Tselem group. "We will continue even if they continue to legislate bills whose goal is to silence us. We might have less financing, but they`ll have to find other ways to stifle the criticism - they`ll have to put us in prison."

DANIEL STRAIN -
Science Magazine
"The sudden loss of U.S. dollars has triggered a two-part crisis at the United Nations Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO). How UNESCO responds will determine the fate of its roughly
$120-million-a-year science portfolio." This is clear proof of the hypocrisy of those arguing against the boycott of Israel - claiming its contribution to the welfare of humanity through its scientific achievements - but now harming the very same values in their BOYCOTT of UNESCO" ca

Ma`an News Agency -
"He spoke at a press conference alongside Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, who demanded an end to the policy that Israel imposed a day after the UN cultural agency UNESCO granted full membership to the Palestinians."It amounts to waterboarding an economy," Stoere said, "because you almost kill it while allowing a small amount of air to come in." ca

Steven M. Cohen - Haaretz - American Jewish leaders - even if they agree in principle with the positions of the more "dovish" JTS rabbis and students (and many leaders do ), many feel they lack the moral standing to voice them. Nor are they comfortable with others expressing dismay with the Israeli government, even when that dismay echoes that expressed by Israel`s highest security officials, opposition parties, leading writers - and, in truth, their own private views.

ISABEL KERSHNER and DAVID E. SANGER - New York Times - â€śThe Israelis fear that once itâ€™s moved underground they wonâ€™t have the ability to see it, or reach it,â€ť one American official said recently. bz

Ran Greenstein -
JNews Blog
" To be blunt, Palestinians in Israel are the sole authority regarding their own experiences; South African Jews are not. If we wish to find out what it means to be Palestinian citizens in Israel, why not ask them directly? Indeed, a wealth of documentary material detailing conditions of massive formal and informal discrimination in the fields of land (especially), labour, housing, education, social services and so on, has been produced by research, human rights ,and legal advocacy organisations representing this group (numerous examples can be found at www.mossawacenter.org and www.adalah.org/eng). Goldstone and Pogrund make no use of this material. Instead, they reproduce official talking points, long debunked by social science research conducted by Israelis and Palestinians alike." ca

Catrina Stewart -
The Independent
"For the Bedouin, however, worse is to come. Under a sweeping new proposal, dubbed the Prawer report, Israel is seeking to corral 30,000 Bedouin living in the Negev`s "unrecognised" villages – some little more than tented encampments – into destitute Bedouin townships, a move that human rights groups say will not only dispossess a people of their ancestral lands but also shatter a disappearing way of life." ca

Mike Prashker - Common Ground News - Sixty-three years after Israel’s establishment, it is easy to feel demoralised by such events. Comprehensive research conducted for Kulanana shows that far too many of Israel’s citizens hold stereotypical and negative attitudes towards “others”. This is not confined to Jewish-Arab relations. Indeed, inter-group relations across the many national, religious and ethnic groups that form Israeli society are far from open and accepting.

Frank Barat -
The Electronic Intifada -
"A stellar cast will observe the proceedings, acting as the jury, and after hearing more than twenty witnesses and legal experts over two days, will answer the question: “Are Israeli policies towards the Palestinian people in breach of the prohibition against apartheid under international law?”" - id

DIMI REIDER -
NYT -
"The judges did not elaborate on how Ms. Kamm’s documents have actively damaged Israel’s security...But the damage the Tel Aviv District Court has inflicted on Israeli democracy is immediate and concrete." - id

JPOST.COM STAFF -
Jerusalem Post -
"The media attention, Begin said, "pales in comparison to the acts of Anat Kamm, for which she was sentenced to four and a half years in prison," echoing sentiments expressed by Intelligence and Atomic Energy Minister Dan Meridor Wednesday in a Ma`ariv op-ed." - id

Asa Winstanley - electronicintifada.net - Salah refused to consent to voluntary deportation â€” the UK Border Agency (UKBA) tried to persuade him to drop his in-country appeal. Salah was concerned that, once he returns home, the Israeli authorities would use a successful deportation from Britain in their long-standing campaign against him.

Yossi Gurvitz - +972 - Mossi Raz: As far as I recall, in all of the years of the saga surrounding settler radio Channel 7, never were any of its managers arrested – even though its broadcasting interfered with the radio frequencies of the Ben Gurion Airport, and even though it never even claimed to be legal or licensed.